Belt loading machine



July M, 1942- J. E. TURNOCK ETAL BELT LOADING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet l Inventors -Turnu CK ,JF. )%/M Attmr'ne .5

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BELT LOADING MACHINE Filed Dec. 15, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Att urneya Patented July 14, 1942 BELT LOADING MACHINE Joseph E. Turncck, Riverton, N. J and Edgar M. Cloeren, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa.

Application December 15, 1939, Serial No. 309,412

(Granted under the act of March -3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928; 370 O. G. 757) 5 Claims.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a belt loading machine intended for loading cartridges into interfitted links to form a cartridge belt of the disintegrating link type.

The purpose of the invention is to provide an efiicient and reliable belt loading machine in which cartridges are positively supplied to a rammer which advances them into links carried by an endless belt.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved means for selectively presenting ball and tracer cartridges to the rammer whereby they may be loaded in predetermined sequence into the belt.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the belt loading machine with the parts in position to load a cartridge;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are sectional views on the respective lines of Fig. 2.

The machine comprises a housing A having an upper bed plate 5 on which a magazine B is secured by means of dowel pins 6. The magazine comprises a plate I resting on the bed plate and having a centrally located, elongated passage 8 for receiving a cartridge C which rests on a wear plate 9 in the bed plate 5. A rectangular feed box It formed on the upper side of the plate 1 includes a central, longitudinally extending partition l to provide a pair of vertical feed channels l2-l2 for the cartridges. The partition is spaced from the plate I to provide a horizontal feed channel 13 which establishes communication from the vertical channels l2-l2 to the passage 8. A chute l4 fitting on the upper edge of the feed box and secured by bolts l and wing nuts I5 is provided with a pair of channels illl leading to the channels l2-l2 and intended to supply cartridges of different types, for example ball and tracer.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 the mechanism for advancing a cartridge from the passage 8 of the magazine comprises a rammer l8 which is threaded in a crosshead l9 and is provided with adjusting collar 23. The crosshead is mounted for reciprocation in guideways 2| of the housing A and carries a depending stud 22 having a cam follower 23 on its lower end. The cam follower rides in a cam groove 2&- formed in a cylindrical roller 25 which is disposed within the housing and carried by a shaft 26 mounted in the housing. The cam roller may be driven either manually or by means of a motor.

The end of the magazine adjacent the crosshead is formed with a pair of spaced bracket arms Illa-la for mounting a shaft 2?. A ratchet crank 28 loose on the shaft is confined against one of the arms by a ratchet wheel 29 whose hub is fixed to the shaft by a pin 39. A pawl 3| pivotally carried by the crank is held in driving engagement with the ratchet wheel by means of a spring 32. A link 33 pivotally mounted on a pin 34 on the crank is connected by means of a turnbuckle 35 to a link 35 which is formed with an elongated slot 37. The slotted end of the link 36 is disposed between the arms of a yoke 38 threaded in the crosshead and a pin 39 carried by the yoke extends through the slot and pivotally supports the link.

A pair of cylindrical cam wheels til and M are mounted on the ends of the shaft 21 and are secured thereon respectively by pins 42 and 43. The outer face of the wheel is provided marginally with a plurality of spaced lobes 44 and with a dwell 45 produced by omitting one lobe. The outer face of the wheel M is provided marginally with a single cam lobe 46 which corresponds angularly to the dwell $5 of cam wheel 40.

A pair of similar levers lli? disposed on opposite sides of the feed box and each mounted on the magazine by a pivot pin 48 are each provided on one end with an upright pin 49 carrying a roller 5!! for engaging the outer lobed face of a cam wheel. The opposite end of each lever is formed into a fork 5i which engages a pin 52 on a feed slide 53. Each feed slide is mounted in a casing 54 secured to the magazine and the pin 52 extends upwardly through a slot 55 in the cover of the casing. The inner end of the feed slide normally extends through an opening 56 in the side wall of the feed box to engage a cartridge and move it across the horizontal feed channel l3. The lever is normally held with its roller against the cam wheel by means of a spring 51 which connects the pin 52 with a pin 58 on the chute.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 5 the housing A has a laterally extending portion 59 for carrying an endless chain 60 whose movement is on a path perpendicular to the path of movement of the rammer. The belt is trained around a sprocket 6| at the outer end of the portion 59 and a sprocket 62 disposed within the housing A. The sprocket El is fixed on a shaft 63 which is mounted in opposed bearing blocks 64 that are adjustably carried in the portion 59 and each held in place by opposed screws E65. The sprocket 62 is fixed on a shaft 66 which is mounted in bearings 61 and 68 (Figs. 2 and 4) forming part of or fixed to the housing A.

The upper reach of the chain is supported by a channeled guideway 69 which is fixed to the portion 59 of the housing between the sprockets. The chain is provided on its outer side with spaced, transversely disposed lugs '10 for positioning and holding metallic links D of the disintegrating belt type.

The links are hand fed to the chain and are held against lateral displacement by the guideway 69. A link stop H (Figs. 1 and 2) mounted on the housing above the sprocket 62 is adapted to restrain the links against endwise movement during insertion of a cartridge and it includes an arm 12 overhanging the link belt to restrain the links against upward displacement. The stop H is provided with an opening 13 for accommodating the bullet end of the cartridge.

A link stripper M (Fig. 5) in the form of a blade is attached to the housing A and projects into the opening 15 of the housing to engage a link and insure its removal from the chain.

A finger '36 attached to the housing adjacent the link stripper M also projects into the opening and serves to support the rear end of the cartridge.

When a cartridge is loaded into the link belt its rear portion is supported on a roller 1'! (Figs. 2 and 5) which is fixed to the shaft 66. The roller is formed with longitudinally extending recesses T8 for receiving the cartridge and it is also formed with an annular groove '59 for accommodating the finger 16.

The shaft 66 carries a gear wheel 80 which meshes with a pinion 8| on one end of a countershaft 82 mounted in the bearing 68. A Geneva wheel 83 is carried on the other end of the countershaft and is driven by a conventional pin wheel 84 on shaft 26 to aiford intermittent movement. The pin wheel includes the usual pin 85 and cam 86.

In operation the cam roller reciprocates the rammer I 8 and imparts angular movement to the ratchet crank 28 to actuate th ratchet wheel 29 through pawl 3! and intermittently rotate the shaft 21. The cam wheels and 4| on shaft 21 control predetermined sequence of actuation of the levers 4141 which in turn control the predetermined sequence of movement of cartridges from the pair of vertical feed channels l2-l2. The cartridges are therefore presented in a predetermined order in the passage 8 from which they are to be advanced by the rammer I 8 and loaded into the metallic links D.

The shaft 25 of the cam roller 25 acting through the Geneva movement 8386 intermittently drives the countershaft 82 and the shaft 66. The chain 60 and the roller 11 are thereby intermittently actuated to advance the cartridge that has been loaded into the links D of the chain and to clear the way for loading of the next round.

We claim:

1. In a cartridge feeding mechanism, a reciprocable cartridge advancing rammer, a shaft adjacent the rammer, a ratchet wheel on the shaft, a ratchet crank loose on the shaft, a pawl on the ratchet crank for driving the ratchet wheel, linkage between the ratchet crank and the rammer, a pair of cam wheels on the shaft and means controlled by the cam wheels and controlling a predetermined sequence of presentation of cartridges to the rammer.

2. In a'machine for loading a link belt, a housing, a reciprocally mounted rammer carried by the housing, a cam roller for reciprocating the rammer, means for supplying cartridges to the rammer, an endless chain mounted for movement perpendicularly to the rammer, and adapted to carry a metallic link belt, a roller having recesses for receiving a cartridge advanced by the rammer, a shaft for driving both the roller and the chain, a countershaft adjacent the shaft, gearing between the shaft and countershaft, a Geneva wheel on the countershaft, a pin wheel driven by the cam roller and intermittently driving the Geneva wheel.

3. In a machine for loading a link belt, a housing, a reciprocally mounted rammer carried by the housing, means for reciprocating the rammer, means for supplying cartridges to the rammer, an endless chain mounted for movement perpendicularly to the rammer and adapted to carry a metallic link belt, a roller having recesses for receiving a cartridge advanced by the rammer, a shaft for driving both the roller and the chain, and means for intermittently driving said shaft from the for reciprocating the rammer.

4. In a machine for loading a link belt, a housing, a reciprocally mounted rammer carried by the housing, means for reciprocating the rammer, means for supplying cartridges to the rammer, an endless chain mounted for movement perpendicularly to the rammer, means on the chain for positioning a metallic link belt and means for intermittently driving the endless chain from the means for reciprocating the rammer.

5. In a machine for loading a link belt, a housing, a rammer reciprocally carried by the housing, means for reciprocating the rammer, means for supplying cartridges to the rammer, an endless chain mounted for movement perpendicularly to the rammer, means on the chain for positioning a metallic link belt, and means for intermittently driving the endless chain.

JOSEPH E. TURNOCK. EDGAR M. CLOEREN, JR. 

